Mrs. Szymborski’s Summer Reading

I have always been a voracious reader. Always. My earliest memories involve reading.

My advice to my students who desire to “get smarter” is to read everything they can get their hands on (broad), and when they find a writer they like, read everything that the author has written (deep).

As a teacher, I know that reading is the key to learning anything. Perhaps most importantly, developing a good reading habit will help students become good and great writers.

The skills you develop when you read deeply and broadly include learning how to better determine connotation and denotation of words, grammar usage, punctuation, writing moves, as well as learning about the content in your book, regardless of the genre.

My first love of reading was fueled by fiction. But over the last 20 years, I have learned to appreciate nonfiction on a much larger scale. However, during the school year, I rarely have the stamina to read an entire book. I spend much of my time reading student work, articles from the New York Times and Atlantic, blogs and posts and tweets and other information shared from colleagues and students and esteemed educators and leaders.

But when school winds down, and the summer begins, the books come out.

Here are books, in order, that I have read so far since school ended.

Little Fires Everywhere

Educated

The Laws of Medicine: Field Notes from an Uncertain Science

The Gene: An Intimate History (still reading)

The Institute

The Reckoning

The Contact Paradox (hope to finish today)

But the books themselves are not as important as how I choose what to read.

Gifts: My daughter gave me Little Fires Everywhere as a Christmas gift. She chose it for me because it was something she was reading in her book club. Lest you think book clubs are for bored housewives, this daughter is a busy oncologist and mother of two.

Recommendations from people who are readers: I ask people what they are reading. If they are really excited about it, then I look into it. If it looks like something I might like, I read it. Educated was recommended by above daughter. It is also a book that is discussed in my AP English Facebook group as a good memoir for our course. It was in a pile of books my 81 year old mom (always a reader and a great role model)hopes to read this summer. I borrowed it and read it quickly. It is awesome.

Book Lists: I routinely check things like the New York Times Best Seller lists. I also look for posts when people talk about what they are reading for the summer–a frequent article on various sites and social media. This year I saw a list of what some UPenn people were reading. That made me curious about the books on genes. Krista (above daughter) said that she read The Emperor of All Maladies and loved it. That is a book on the history of cancer, her speciality, and she said, short of the difficult-to-pronounce names, that this book was interesting and engaging.

However, when I went to the library the first day it reopened (I only go to the food store and the library–you can see what I value) I found his other books. The one about Laws of Medicine was short and a quick read. I liked it because my best friend and daughter are both physicians, something that I had always wanted to be, and I like the discussion of medicine as an art or a practice or a science. The book on genes is extremely interesting and extremely long and I am progressing in reading it slowly.

I am a fast reader. Speed reading was part of our English courses in high school, and reading as much as I do, speed becomes second nature. However, some things need to be read s-l-o-w-l-y. That is another skill you learn from reading as much as you can. You learn to vary your reading speed according to the text and your purpose. Reading to enjoy? One can read quickly to keep the momentum going (or slowly to savor the prose). Science? Slow.

Library: When I located the two Mukherjee books, I looked through the stacks. First I went to fiction to find my FAVORITE fiction writer–Stephen King. I have read almost everything he has published. There I found a recently (2019) published book that I hadn’t yet read, and I snatched that up! Went to the Gs in the stacks, and found a Grisham book I hadn’t yet read. Grabbed that.

Then I went to the recent shelves–that special place where the librarians display new books. I found there the recent book on SETI–search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Would it to surprise you that there I was reminded of TWO things I can demonstrate to my new AP class–one is how Carl Sagan was aware of his audience, a senator who previously thought that any search like this was a waste of government, and developed a strategy of finding common ground so that he could change his opinion. And the other, making cross textual(curricular) connections. You would expect to talk about Darwin in a book about genetics, but in a book about outer space? Far out.

All in all, I haven’t spent a dime yet. It is not that I do not love to buy and cherish books. I do. When hubby and I downsized a few years ago, I had hundreds of books and nowhere for them in the new house. I brought them into school, and my students snapped them up! There are some books I will not part with. There are even some I will not loan. But most books are in a list I keep or in my memory.

Today is July 17. There are a number of books to be read yet. Some I can get at the library. Some I will borrow from a family member or friend. And some I will have to buy.

I can’t wait.

The Good Faith Interview–Follow Up to Free Voluntary Reading

Nov13

We know that kids who read more do better in school. But how do you create a culture of reading in a high school junior class where most of the students report that they hate reading?

That was my challenge in September. And I think I have been somewhat successful with my College Prep Level juniors. And it ends with the Good Faith Interview.

Here is how it begins. From the first day I met them, I stressed the role of reading in their development as students who were looking to go to college. I explained how “background knowledge” is one of the things that kids who read have more of than kids who do not. I explained how students who read more learn more vocabulary. We discussed the role of reading in learning to write better.

Then I asked them to choose a book. Any book. And I started Free Voluntary Reading during my class. I have a hard time giving up time for teaching, but the reality is, most of these students would not read unless they were given time in school.

And I want to be clear, I have very little time to give up. My school began an SAT prep program, so every Wednesday, half if not more of the period is devoted to working through the SAT book. And these students need a great deal of practice with writing, so I need to provide lots of low stakes writing to build their fluency. And their knowledge of grammar does not connect with their writing, so they need lots of practice in recognizing sentence errors and agreement errors and more. And that is not even taking into account the days lost for standardized testing.

So every Friday, they bring their book to class. They do not forget their books, because I think they BELIEVE how important reading is.

For twenty minutes, we read. After that, students share what they read with their partners. We have already set in place the protocol for working in pairs, so they know that I am watching them take turns talking and listening.

They are so cute.

I hear them telling each other the details of their books. And I see the partners listening intently.

However, as the quarter progressed, I began to feel the need to assess their reading, if only to just validate its importance. So I devised a two part project. The first part requires posting a review on Goodreads in our private group. I give the students time to sign up in class, and I let them peer edit their reviews in class. And a nice bonus is that this private group can serve as a resource of books for future classes.

Nevertheless, the best part of the assessment comes from combining two ideas suggested by my friend and colleague Bernadette Janis, Penn Literacy Network Coaching Coordinator. In a PLN class several Ryan teachers took two years ago, Bernadette introduced us to an activity she calls The Interview. It is based on the work of Cooperative Learning pioneer Spencer Kagan. And because she understands that I am concerned with issues about grading Free Voluntary Reading, she suggested that I consider Jim Vopat’s idea of Good Faith Effort, a term he coined in his book Writing Circles. Appropriately, I have named my students’ collaborative work Good Faith Interviews.

The premise is that students earn all of the points or none of the points, based on their preparation and participation.

Students work with their books in hand. As pairs, each partner interviews the other using questions I provide. Then the pairs square with another pair, and each student shares their partner’s answer.

As I walk among the students, dipping in and out of their groups, I know that the majority of them are well prepared. They read the book, they talk about their book, and they enjoy the interaction.

Some teachers find it hard to get students to stay on task when collaborating in class. I think Jim Vopat’s idea of Good Faith Effort as well as the structure of The Interview have implications for every classr oom, not just ELA. Students are held accountable for an activity that is tightly focused.

Ending the first quarter, my students achieved the goal of reading a book on their own, and they are realizing that I value reading so much, I made it part of our class. They know that I am committed to the idea that reading is vital for their success. And holding them accountable for their reading using Good Faith Interviews is one way that I have been able to get my kids to show how committed they are to that same idea.

Double the learning with working in pairs

Oct23

Group work has been part of my teaching repertoire since 1981, with varying success. As I become more aware of the need to teach not only my content but also the literacy skills that are necessary for success, I love when a strategy also helps students uncover ways for learning that they can use not only in my class, but in learning in other situations as well.

I believe that helping students learn how to be productive while working with a partner is something that will serve them well in education and in the real world. Certainly, collaboration is one of the skills that employees list as a factor in hiring.

Two of my favorite activities for pairs hit the mark for all four skills–speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In the past week, I have had the opportunity to use these strategies in my classes, and I believe the students not only learn better, but they work better together because they have a clear focus and direction.

Summary Pairs

Often times, even the best readers struggle with reading dense text. I know that I have experienced the frustration with not being able to settle in and comprehend a piece that is complicated, so I appreciate the struggle my students might encounter.

Summary Pairs is a strategy that has great implications as a tool for our students’ toolkit.

Students work in pairs, alternating reading a paragraph out loud. At the end of the first round of oral reading, the two co-create a summary statement, working to retain the original ideas but in their own words. The other student reads the next paragraph, and together they write a summary statement for that section. They continue until the whole piece has been read and summarized.

This is a great activity to use before introducing Kelly Gallagher’s Article of the Week or even John Collins’ Ten Percent Summary. Summary Pairs gives them a structure to divide the reading and summarize sections without it being overwhelming.

Furthermore, this activity provides a springboard for summarizing larger chunks of material. As we move into research, my students are often overwhelmed with how to summarize and/or paraphrase information. After they master Summary Pairs, they can easily and confidently move into summarizing on their own.

Reciprocal Teaching

When a piece of writing is extremely difficult, either because of the way it is written or because of the content, Reciprocal Teaching is a strategy that offers students a framework for demonstrating their thinking.

Similar to Summary Pairs, students work through a paragraph at a time, with one partner reading aloud while the other listens. The difference, however, is that the partner reading aloud stops during the reading and talks about what is going on in the text. Students might discuss the meanings of words, the shades of meaning of words, or the moves that the author is making. Students notice things that are interesting, things that make them wonder, and things that are confusing.

This interaction with the text is what I want my students to be able to do routinely. It is close reading at the sentence, phrase, and word level.

To get my students to the point where they can read at this level independently, they need lots of practice working with others so that they can become more confident of their own ideas. Not only does this strategy provide the support they need, but it also allows me the opportunity to purposefully pair students so that they can learn from and with one another.

Key features

There are many reasons why I find these strategies beneficial. First, they include all four skills–listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The strategies provide a framework for students to use as they work through dense reading. Sometimes students do not have the fortitude or stamina to handle a dense piece on their own, so this actually “teaches” them how to approach reading by having them demonstrate for each other the things that good readers do–without the students even realizing they are modeling.

Working like this gets kids up to their elbows in text, demonstrating ways to make meaning and providing lots of support for each other to be successful. And, ultimately, it helps them learn ways to approach difficult text on their own.

Having fun with public speaking

Oct9

We had a lot of fun in class this past Friday.

Because it was Patron’s Day, we had a special schedule with 20 minute classes. Twenty minutes is too short for some lessons but perfect for practicing public speaking.

To be honest, I always considered myself a writing teacher. Even though I require presentations as part of every class I teach, I never stopped to consider what I should do to prepare the students except to remind them to speak loudly and clearly and make eye contact with the audience.

Several years ago, I visited the Science Learning Academy with my principal to investigate the way Chromebooks were being used in the classes there. I learned a great deal about Chromebook classrooms that day, but I learned even more about students and public speaking.

When we created the Digital Literacy course, a project based course, we began to look at the ways that students should deliver their presentations. My colleagues and I were all too familiar with students reading slides, and since we were creating a course that would require presentations, we started to consider how to help our students do a better job with public speaking, specifically with presenting information orally to a class.

These ideas and others are now part of what I teach to all of my students. And what I love is that I start making visible the kinds of things that good speakers do by having some fun with Tongue Twisters, something I learned from my PLN coach Bernadette Janis.

Each group is assigned a particular Tongue Twister, and each student in that group gets a slip with the words. The directions are simple. Students are directed to practice together and decide the best way to present the Tongue Twister multiple times. I usually say they need to say the Tongue Twister one time more than the number of people in their group. I invite them to consider ways to make this work. Each student could say it once and then the whole group one time together. The entire group could recite it together the requisite number of times. Or they could come up with any way that works for their group.

Over the past few years I have been doing this, there have been groups with students that have difficulty with speaking. Students with speech issues and international students are not able to say the sentence alone, but when they are part of a choral group, they can dip in and out of saying the Tongue Twister and actually practice fluency as part of the exercise.

On a whole, the kids laugh a great deal. And the rule is if anyone makes a mistake, the whole group starts over from the beginning. Sometimes they laugh so hard, they have to restart four or five times.

I find myself smiling. I smile because I watch the student whose parent told me that she has a great fear of public speaking as she stands in front of her peers laughing and trying to say some silly words. I smile because the groups that have students who cannot speak fluently take care of their teammates. They find ways to support each other. I smile because they are practicing speaking in front of the class in a non-threatening and supported way.

Of course, we have many more aspects of public speaking to cover. I will model for them. I will find ways to support them, reviewing key points like enunciation, projection, eye contact, extemporaneous speaking. But I am so happy that the first time my students stood in front of the class they were laughing and having fun.

Hopefully, they will feel like Brittany, a former Digital Literacy student, who in a recent article in the student online newspaper said that not only did she learn tech skills in that class, but that she “was able to become more comfortable speaking in front of people from this course.”

Out of the mouths of teenagers.

Looking at the world thought the Human Lens

Jul17

This week has been a week that has forced me to look at my career differently.

As an invited guest to the Penn Literacy Network (PLN ) Summer Leadership Week, I was humbled to be among some of the most talented and dedicated educators discussing reading, writing, listening, and thinking through the Human Lens of Learning.

The Human Lens, according to PLN founder Dr. Morton Botel, deals with “the intrapersonal dimension of learning, the notion that all learners use language to make meaning in unique ways.” This dimension takes into consideration the background knowledge of the student in every way possible, including his/her attitude toward reading, writing, and learning. Botel acknowledges the Human Lens is reflected in the work of noted educator and philosopher Paulo Freire whose ideas draw attention to what Botel explains as the“enormous potential of language to empower individuals and groups to reflect and act on their worlds.”

And, to paraphrase Executive PLN Director Bonnie Botel-Sheppard, it is imperative to be mindful of the Human Lens, especially in today’s world.

What must go through a child’s mind when s/he hears about a huge white truck plowing down people gathered to watch fireworks? Or about police being picked off one by one? Or about another black person shot by police?

How can our children make sense of the world when the world seems to be constantly at odds? How can we allay their fears? How can we prepare them to take their place in the world? Perhaps most importantly, how can we prepare them to change the world?

I think the answer lies in reading and writing. Years ago, I read the report from the National Commission on Writing, The Neglected “R”. It added a dimension to my passion for teaching writing that I had always understood but could never name. In the first chapter, the report explained how “writing has transformed the world.” It explains how the power of the written word has started revolutions, stopped oppression, and provided an outlet for examining the human condition.

At a time when some educators are claiming that the Common Core does not leave much room for personal narrative, I believe that helping our students to write their own story is more important now than ever.

Over the years, as an “after” activity of a close read of an essay that addresses an author’s personal experience with racism, or sometimes even as a “before,” I have asked students to write about a time that they felt stereotyped or labeled or marginalized. The effectiveness of such an assignment is obviously multifaceted, but building that connection between reader-author-content is not only good reading, it is a good example of looking at reading through a human lens.

Perhaps we as educators fail to see how we can help change the world. Perhaps we do not believe it is our responsibility.

But it is. We are the agents of change. We are the ones who can help our students see the world in all its colors and possibilities. We are the ones that can help instill the desire to reach across divides and build bridges.

There are resources to help us. Larry Ferlazzo offers resources on teaching about race and racism. The CCSS requires us to teach students to “Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance”. Instead of reading those documents as Republicans or Democrats this election year, let’s read them for the inspiration they offer about freedom and equality.

We ourselves cannot change the world. But we can educate our students to understand what they read and write and hear and speak through the Human Lens. And in doing that, we can change our corner of the world. And from there, it will be our students who will change the world.

The importance of being heard

Jun19

Even as I look to my twenty-seventh year of teaching, I realize there is so much more to learn in my profession.

Perhaps my biggest realization happened when my friend, colleague, and Penn Literacy Facilitator, Bernadette Janis, emphasized the importance of the simple strategy of pair-share.

There are children, she said, that can go through an entire day of classes without ever being heard.

That was a thunderbolt. It struck me to the core of my profession. How many times did I let a student leave my class without speaking and being heard? Certainly, we all know the importance of wait time in questioning. But I knew, instantly, that I had a huge deficit in providing my students the platform to speak and be heard on a daily basis.

And I imagined that deficit seven-fold. Were there kids going through an entire day without saying anything in any class? And how many days in a row could that happen? And months?

That thunderbolt was a game changer for me.

Group work has been a staple in my teaching since 1981. In various forms and differing configurations, I always was comfortable with group work. But that did not guarantee that each child spoke and was heard.

I do not think I am able to express clearly enough how devastating this realization was for me. Who would not want to be heard? It is a basic human need. And yet I was failing to provide the simple right for each child to be heard by another human being on a daily basis.

It is not lost on me how many of us discuss how students are reluctant to raise their hands. We complain that students do not want to participate. We find convoluted ways to measure participation by counting how many times they bring their books or complete their homework. That is not participation.

For years I have had my students complete a Myers Brigg Inventory, and I try to identify for the ones who score as “Introverted” ways they can participate more. I have used tools like Today’s Meet where students can post comments or questions as class goes on as a way to prompt those “introverted” students to participate. I have used nings and wikis and other walled digital environments to offer places for shy students to put forth their ideas.

What I did not realize is that the easiest and most effective – and lowest tech – way of making sure each student has the opportunity to speak and be heard is turn and talk.

How revolutionary.

Many of my students reported that their group work was one of the biggest factors in their learning this year. I plan to explore this from different angles so I can understand why–finally–group work was real and productive and worthwhile for my students this year.

And I really believe that the one little shift–providing more pair-share opportunities–was key. My students participated more. They learned more. They dug deeper. They learned that no one is smarter than the room. They learned collaboration, a skill that will serve them for their whole life.

All because Bernadette shocked me.

It is not hard to add pair-share to any activity. It changed my class. Maybe it has changed yours.

Or maybe it could.

Info on infographics

May1

I love infographics.

There was a time, not that long ago, that only graphic designers could create infographics. Now, with free programs like Piktochart, anyone can create an infographic.

Some people believe that infographics are geared toward relaying data, but others believe that infographics can be used to display data as well as to quickly relay information. I like this infographic on infographics (is that a meta-infographic?)

In Digital Literacy, we teach our students how to read infographics and how to create them. Students need to examine different types of infographics in order to understand the variety of ways that they can be used to provide information. And there is an explosion of infographics to study! They are used in many online resources, and compared to the ones that we used to see in texts and other print materials, they are increasingly engaging.

The ability to catch a reader’s attention, especially online, when there are so many other things to explore, is a key skill in developing effective infographics. Here are some amazing examples.

Thirteen reasons why your brain craves infographics

What happens after you drink a Coke

African elephants need our help

A global carbon footprint

How empathy can improve your life

My infographic explaining the Digital Literacy course

As you can see, there IS data in most of these examples, but there are many other components including the careful use of text, color, and graphics.

My digital literacy students create infographics for a Pro-Con argument. They research a topic and categorize reasons on both sides of an issue before presenting their conclusion. The skills they practice include close reading, paraphrasing, summarizing, research, citation, fair use and creative commons, creating an argument, as well as exploring the aesthetics of color, typography, and graphics.

How could you use infographics?

For any project that requires explanation. Certainly with math and any statistics project. For process analysis. For cause and effect. For lab results. For a timeline.

Not only are infographics everywhere you look, but now people can even create a resume with infographics.

I think a good place to begin is by trying to create one yourself. Check out Piktochart. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe to their blog. They offer great guidance and helpful tips. Enter their contests. I won an Amazon gift card and free pro accounts for a whole class!

Creating infographics is a great way to engage your students and provide them with up to date and real world digital experience with conveying information.

When technology fails, make lemonade

Apr24

When technology fails, we are often left to scramble for alternatives.

When technology fails in a technology class, well, that really causes a scramble.

Some connectivity issues in my school have forced me to rethink activities for my digital literacy class. And much to my surprise, I was forced to really think about the SAMR model.

The SAMR model reflects the use of technology for substitution, augmentation, modification or redefinition. My interpretation of that model is that “redefinition” is where a class like digital literacy should reside.

But I learned that even without technology, I was able to help my students work at a much higher level, “redefining” the way they could work to organize and categorize ideas for a Pro Con topic to be presented in an infographic.

Where I usually offer choice in the Pro Con project, I chose instead to work on one topic for the class because of the constraints caused by the connectivity issue. Even though choice is key in my opinion for student engagement, I was lucky to come across a topic that instantly interested my students–is a college education worth the cost?

First, we discussed some information about the cost of college. Recently, twitter exploded with posts about the cost of one year at NYU–$71,000. I offered that information to my students, and explained the differences between community colleges, state colleges, and private colleges. I touched upon some statistics about the average earnings of a college graduate, and I offered them some personal anecdotes. After answering questions and clarifying some points, I asked them to complete a Collins Type 1 writing about whether college was worth the cost.

They pair-shared their answers, and we sampled the class. We voted on who was of the opinion that college is worth the cost and who was of the opinion that it wasn’t. We posted the results on the board.

They were hooked.

Even though I could not give them a choice, they were interested, activated, and engaged.

The next part, gathering information, was easy. Even though I am a devotee of all things on our school database. I really like ProCon.org. And I really like how the site offers a list of Pro Con points with detailed facts.

But my kids have a hard time digesting this much information on their own, and with 17 points for Pro and 17 for Con I was nervous about getting started.

That is when I remembered that even high school kids like manipulatives.

In digital literacy class, I more often offer a digital organizer, but nothing makes work easier than 17 slips cut up and ready to be moved around.

I copied the MAIN sentence of each point P1, P2 or C1, C2 and so on. WIth a little help from some of my wonderful students–Taylor and Jackie, especially–we cut up all seventeen PROS and all seventeen CONS and put each set in different envelopes so each group in each class would get one envelop of PROS and one envelop of CONS.

I directed my digital literacy students to empty the envelop with the PROS onto their table, and as a GROUP, move the papers around and organize them into groups that made sense.

They made QUICK work of this. This was much faster–and more effective–than when they do this digitally.

I then asked them to find ONE word that categorized each pile. They put that word on a post-it and clipped the pile together.

They transferred their category words and the corresponding codes that matched the word onto giant post its and put it on the board.

Then the bell rang.

So this is where I plan to go this week. We will do a gallery walk of the six groups of each class and look at the category words. Each student will have a CHOICE. I will ask them to choose three different categories and whatever codes they think will work well from the ones their classmates organized.

Then they will have THREE major points and a place to go for all the supporting details they need (the original list.) Then we will work on paraphrasing the essential facts.

Repeat with the CONS.

From there, they will be asked to form a personal opinion on the points they have chosen and voila! All the information they need to put together an infographic will be at their fingertips.

Certainly, designing an infographic on Piktochart.com is an example of the redefinition indicated in the SAMR model. But in this case, the gathering and organizing of their information was “redefined.”

All because technology failed.

Helping teens understand paraphrasing, synthesis, and attribution

Feb28

Ever since “copy and paste” has become part of our lifestyle, teaching students to paraphrase has become even harder. Whether intentional or accidental, students find it easier than ever to plagiarize.

Some schools invest in plagiarism checkers like Turnitin.com. However, I believe that “catching” kids in the act is not as effective as is making sure we deliberately teach students how to work with source material correctly. And that is not easy.

It is easy to TELL kids to cite. It is harder to teach them how. It is easy to TELL kids to paraphrase. Teaching it is painstaking. But we need to teach them.

Before we can ask students to integrate quotes, paraphrases, and summaries into their writing, we need to make sure that they are competent in recognizing the importance of giving credit where credit is due.

Sometimes, a discussion about legal cases that involve, for example, music copyright might make this clearer. Explaining the legal implications of “stealing” a few lines of a catchy tune can establish a sense of the ethics behind good citations.

Lots of practice is needed for students to become adept at dealing carefully with other people’s words and ideas. And some of my students report not having much experience with that. Activities like John Collins 10% Summary or GIST are ways to build competency in summarizing.

But there is no easy way to teach paraphrasing and attribution. These are skills that require us to assign and check the work.

Nevertheless, there are resources that can help. Noodletools is an amazing platform for working with paraphrasing and attribution. The notecard feature of Noodletools provides a template for students to copy and paste work from a source. Right next to it is a block where they can work on a paraphrase. The teacher can then see both the original and the paraphrase and comment and correct as necessary.

Noodletools helps with citation, too, as do many other programs. But Noodletools also shows the student the exact in-text reference to use for each entry. What else is great is that the program lets a user create a Works Cited in MLA style or a Bibliography in APA style.

Competency in attribution is key for a student writing a research paper or creating a presentation. Before my students even begin to work with paraphrasing , I have them complete a two prong project called “So you think you can cite.” Feel free to use or adapt if it can help.

Paraphrasing is hard. Citation is hard. But synthesis is even harder. Showing students how to interact with other people’s ideas while weaving their own thoughts is arguably the hardest and most important teaching task. Increasingly, students are being asked to synthesize material from outside sources with their own ideas.

Our students will be asked in college and in their careers to consider complicated ideas and writing while determining how those ideas fit into the ways they think. They will be asked to think about, to write about, and to present how ideas from experts fit into their own line of thinking.

Wow. That’s a daunting task. And it’s hard to know where to begin.

Perhaps these resources may help your students in becoming more successful in practicing these skills.

A sampling of my students’ responses:

“I found the resources to be both interesting and helpful. One link in particular that stood out to me was the link that showed the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing. Often students confuse the two, and it is important to know the difference especially when writing formal papers. I also liked the link that listed and explained the different types of plagiarism. Many times, students unintentionally plagiarize because they don’t correctly paraphrase or cite their sources. In the future, I will be more conscious when paraphrasing and will develop my skills so that I can paraphrase effectively.” ~ Grace

“I think it’s important to learn about plagiarism. Paraphrases and summarizing help prevent plagiarism and give credit to the person from whom the work was taken. I didn’t know you could self-plagiarize your own work. Learning the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing in important, and the section on that made it clear on how it can be useful in college. I think it’s also important to know that plagiarism can have really serious effects. You can lose your job or be kicked out of school for plagiarism. It’s important to know how to accurately cite someone’s work in your writing”.~ Jettaka

“Paraphrasing seems to be a chore for most students, including me at times, and probably because it is so tedious. Before learning how to properly paraphrase, I’d use synonyms of the original words and add the parenthetical citation at the end. That seemed enough. I was attributing the information to the source at the end,so why did I have to basically summarize someone else’s words? I honestly still don’t really think it’s plagiarism, but of course I would still never do it again. I would be taking too many risks simply because I got lazy. I guess the simple reminder of how serious plagiarism is and its consequences is what resonates with me from these links.” ~ Karen

I know that one thing I never want to hear is a student say that s/he copied and pasted because of not knowing how to properly deal with source material. I want them to see the work as a reward for the privilege of digging into other people’s writing.

This is the seventh post in a ten part series on College and Career Skills.

Helping teens develop close reading skills

Feb14

Did you ever stop to think what happens as you read? The marvel of the connections our brains make to interpret symbols as sounds that make words that carry meaning is truly astounding.

As adults, we do not need to be convinced of the importance of reading. Many of us enjoy reading for pleasure, but all of us have faced the arduous task of making meaning out of very dense text.

Something as simple as following a recipe from Blue Apron can require a careful rereading and questioning approach. Filling out tax forms or Medicare applications can make our heads hurt as we struggle to comprehend what is being asked.

We are good readers. We are experienced readers. We are thoughtful readers.

Our students, however, are still developing a set of skills that will carry them through college when they have to read Plato and chemistry books and onto adult life where they will be reading complicated insurance descriptions.

Most of us can remember completing explication of texts or poems in college, but I wonder if we realize that the skill we strengthened as we did that was close reading.

Close reading is simply careful reading. It is not something new. Close reading requires an understanding of the purpose of the text. It requires a reader to adjust focus, to ask questions, to monitor comprehension. Close reading requires the implementation of strategies that are second nature to us.

To be honest, I am not sure why kids are not reading–in quantity and quality–like I remember others reading at their age. Perhaps more significant is that I am not sure that figuring out why will even help. But thinking carefully about how we, accomplished readers, process text that is difficult to comprehend and identifying the ways we approach that text is what matters. It is our duty to make “visible the invisible” strategies we employ.

Close reading is one of the key skills my students work on in AP English. They reviewed this week’s resources for close reading. Here is what they had to say.

“Close reading is extremely important in multiple aspects of my life as a student, not just in English class. I use close reading in almost every one of my classes to assure I understand the material I am studying thoroughly. Close reading is extremely vital to my life at the moment and the document confirmed that I will be using this skill far into the future. I hope to better my ability to read closely as I will need it not only in college, but far into my adult life. One new thing I learned was the SQ3R method of close reading. This method includes surveying, questioning, reading, reciting, and reviewing a piece over a long course of time to assure one understands a piece. I was also reminded to read things multiple times over the course of a few days to assure complete understanding of a piece.” ~ Anthony

“Close reading is paying close attention to what you are reading and making sure you absorb all of the information. It is very important, not only in school but also in other places where you might be reading something difficult. I never realized I should be pay attention to whether or not I am actually understanding what I’m reading. This sounds like something obvious to do, but I never realized how I can just kind of read over things without absorbing anything. I liked the article on how the brain processes words, because I never knew how much went on in my head while reading.” ~ Lindsay

“I thought these resources were very useful. I thought it was interesting to learn about the importance of asking questions and relating what you read to personal experience. Asking questions proves that you understood what you read, and relating what you read to personal experiences helps you to understand the material fully. Close reading is very important, since some of us read and don’t pay attention to what we are reading. This causes us to not understand the material. Annotating a piece helps to solve this problem, since you are actively reading. I have found it useful to underline important phrases and words that contribute to the main idea of the piece. This not only helps me to comprehend what I am reading when I am reading it, but it also helps me to remember main points for when I go back to the piece.” ~ Katie

Helping our students to develop close reading skills is extremely important. Feel free to share the resources with your students, and likewise, please share your thoughts and ideas as well.

Part five of a ten part series on skills for college and career.

Teens, tweets, and texts

Category Archives: Reading strategies